“Second Chances” is episode one of season two of Continuum.
In the season one finale, “Endtime”, several things happened which, to a large extent, just complicated matters. Kagame killed himself as a suicide bomber and asked Valentine to take over. She drew her gun on Travis (her lover). That wasn’t the complicated bit though.
Kiera met someone, Jason, who also claimed to be from the future. Although he was definitely crazy – he had built a ‘time machine’ that was, quite literally, a pile of junk – he did appear to be. He claimed that there were other travellers, freelancers, linked to a man called Escher, and, just as Agent Gardener was about to find out that Cameron’s story was false, it was backed up by someone of that name claiming to be Cameron’s boss.
Things got even more complicated. Jason stated that only one man he knew could have built the time machine- and this was no surprise when it turned out to be Alec Sadler, the older one. Which means that Sadler was responsible for Liber8’s escape from execution in “A Stitch in Time”. Sadler had met with Kagame prior to this – Kagame was surprised to find him still alive, given the attack on the Corporate Congress – but older Alec stated that he knew the attack was coming. Which means he also knew what happened in the past. But he also seems to think things can be changed. Now, why is one of the most powerful surviving people on the planet trying to change the past with an anti-corporate terrorist group? He suggested he had similar aims. Furthermore, Kagame’s mentor was revealed – Alec’s stepbrother, Julian. Perhaps Sadler thinks that they can change the past, even though he remembers the time travellers (it’s a lot easier to make a time travel device if you know it’s possible). Following the terrorist attack, Kiera activated the invisibility/chameleon property of her tech and disappeared in front of Gardener, after first surviving the explosion.
This episode opens with a woman, Kiera, on a gurney who tries to escape from wherever it is but is caught, drugged, and stuck in some type of cell. She then wakes up in bed in the future with a headache. She says she thinks something went wrong with her CMR, but her husband sees something floating outside their apartment, pointing in.
In the present (past) Valentine has not yet killed Travis but, as he tries to talk her out of it, she shoots him several times. They are both in a hospital, so doctors attempt to revive Travis. They think they’ve failed, then he seems to self-shock his heart back and causes a bit of mayhem before being drugged.
One week after this and several people break into a building before being attacked by someone invisible – Cameron. Alec has moved into the city, along with some of his gear, but not his most advanced equipment. He’s also avoiding Kiera’s calls. In the previous episode, young Alec stated to Kiera that he had discovered a message saying that he was the one who sent her back in time – deliberately. She wants to talk about the message. Alec is also looking for a job.
The city mayor is about to make a public statement when someone shoots her in the head. This makes a bit of a mess of things. There’s going to be a rush election for a new mayor, and Liber8 already control a candidate, from “The Politics of Time” (although no-one else knows that). Carlos wants Kiera to come back into the fold rather than acting like a superpowered vigilante. When Kiera discovers that both Carlos and his boss’s jobs are on the line because of the assassination, she agrees to help, but not back in the fold. Gardiner is looking for her though.
Garza wants Liber8 to rescue Travis – she doesn’t know that Sonya was the one who shot him, or that Kagame wanted the latter to take over, rather than Travis who was next in line.
A bit of a sluggish start to the season; it seems things are being set up for the future rather than being dealt with now.